Last night, in the main event of the first-ever mixed martial arts show promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, Tito Ortiz finally got something he’s been chasing for his entire legendary career: a victory of fellow UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell.
Shortly after Tito Ortiz put Chuck Liddell down in the first round, he began his classic victory celebration, in which he acts as though he’s burying the body of his opponent. This is a celebration most long-term MMA fans are very familiar with, as we’ve seen Ortiz do it many times over the course of his career. The officials working Saturday night’s Golden Boy MMA show, however, seemed to have no idea what Tito Ortiz was doing — that, or they didn’t want him to do it.
As Ortiz began his victory celebration, he was swarmed by a group of officials who attempted to interrupt him. See this strange scene in the gif at the top of this post (h/t Jed I. Goodman on Twitter).
The fact that the officials on-scene were unwilling to let Tito Ortiz do his post-fight celebration after beating Chuck Liddell is made even more unfortunate by the fact that Ortiz retired post fight.
This was his last bout, and he couldn’t celebrate properly without being interrupted.
“I’m done.” Tito Ortiz said at the event’s post-fight press conference. “There is nobody left I want to fight. I just want to continue to help the sports grow as a promoter. I want to help give back to the fighters.”
Over the course of his legendary career, Ortiz has scored wins over top fighters such as Guy Mezger, Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Wanderlei Silva, Ken Shamrock, Patrick Cote, Vitor Belfort, Forrest Griffin, Ryan Bader, Alexander Shlemenko, Stephan Bonner, Chael Sonnen, and Chuck Liddell — among many others.
Do you think Tito Ortiz should have been allowed to celebrate without interruption after his knockout win over Chuck Liddell?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/25/2018.
